New York Attorney General Louis J. Lefkowitz filed a brief in U.S. District Court in Utica asking for the Interstate Commerce Commission to restore the famed Phoebe Snow line, of the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad, to service and the return of passenger service between Port Jervis and Binghamton, New York.
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Joseph Watley was heading to his home in Connecticut when a Pennsylvania state trooper pulled him over near the Blooming Grove exit on Interstate 84 in Pike County for allegedly driving 48 mph in a 65 mph zone.
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Recent Gas Drilling News

Families fighting for drinking water deliveries to resume in Dimock Twp. and the state regulators and natural gas driller who say they were right to allow the deliveries to stop submitted arguments Wednesday in a case before the Environmental Hearing Board.

Bulk and bottled water deliveries provided for more than two years by Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. stopped last week after the 11 families' earlier emergency petition to continue the daily deliveries was denied.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental organization, joined the families' attorneys Wednesday in asking the judge to reverse the state's determination that Cabot fulfilled the terms of a December 2010 settlement allowing the deliveries to stop. Further, the attorneys asked the judge to throw out the "illegal" section of the settlement that fell short of state laws requiring drillers to "restore or replace" water they damage.

The attorneys argued the state wrongly ignored the harm the families would suffer if forced to drink well water they said contains contaminants including metals, solvents and manufactured chemicals at levels above state and federal drinking water standards.

"The record suggests that the Department has turned a blind eye toward known contaminants of Dimock water supplies and has utterly failed to require Cabot to restore or replace the water supplies that the Department itself found Cabot had polluted," they wrote.

The department's action "sets a dangerous precedent that permits any natural gas drilling company to essentially purchase areas of the Commonwealth if they get caught contaminating the groundwater."

In briefs filed Wednesday, Cabot and DEP argued the hearing board does not have the authority to force Cabot to continue deliveries of drinking water, nor can it order the department to take an enforcement action.

The families also wrongly interpret "requirements that do not appear on the face" of the 2010 settlement, the DEP wrote: The agreement did not require Cabot to pay private tax liabilities on money deposited in escrow accounts, nor are the methane removal systems described in the settlement required to treat water to meet drinking water standards for all constituents.

The families also fail to show irreparable harm if the board does not require Cabot to resume water deliveries, DEP wrote, because the families already have a remedy: accept the money in the escrow accounts and use it to pay for potable water or take the offered treatment systems.

Cabot echoed that argument, saying that the families can pay to get fresh water delivered or collect it for free from an artesian well in Montrose.

In their briefs Wednesday, the families' attorneys moved to consolidate several petitions regarding the December 2010 settlement, including their appeal from January that sought to throw out the whole agreement.

Contact the writer: llegere@timesshamrock.com

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